HONG KONG—With starting points to the East of Trio Island accompanied by medium strength winds and an unusually heavy sea, Day-4 (Races 5 and 6) of the Hebe Haven Yacht Club Quest Yachting Typhoon Series 2015 produced some exciting racing. It was a stern test of seamanship to negotiate the geometric course outside Port Shelter on Sunday July 19.

The course set by Race Officer of the Day, Inge Strompf-Jepsen for Race-5 was 3-loops of a Windward Leeward course for IRC-A and IRC-B division boats, and 2-loops of the same course for all other boats. For Race-6, the course for HKPN-A and J80’s boats was also extended to three laps.

With six races completed the discard rule comes into affect allowing all boats to offset their highest score. After 8-races allowed discards increase to 2.

IRC In IRC-A Division, a lot of boats were over the start line at the gun for the first race forcing a general recall. After the re-start, Race-5 was won by “FreeFire” followed by “Zannekin”, “Signal 8” and “Ambush”. In Race-6 “FreeFire” went OCS (on course side) at the start and had to re-cross the start line before continuing the race. “Zannekin” took first place followed by “Ambush”, “PDSTIFX” and “Signal 8”. “FreeFire” took 5th place.

“Zannekin” leads the series with 8-points, “Signal 8” and “Ambush” are both on 16-points and “FreeFire” and “Straight Up” are both on 18-points.

In IRC-B Division, “Lighthorse” got back to her winning ways taking line honours and first place in Race-5, followed by “Sea Wolf”, “Black Jack”, “Mojito” and “Stella”. In Race-6 although “Lighthorse” took line honours she was pushed into 4th place on corrected time by “Outrageous”, “Sea Wolf” and “Mojito”. “Lighthorse” still heads the series on 7-points, “Sea Wolf” is 2nd on 8-points followed by “Mojito” on 17-points and “Stella” on 18.

In IRC-C division, “Dexter II” took line honours and 1st place on corrected time in both races. “Moll”, “Lady Butterfly” and “Gearbox” took the next three places in Race-5 and in Race-6, “Moll”, “Lady Butterfly” and “Gambit” took places 2 to 4. “Dexter II” maintains a perfect score in the series with 5-points, well ahead of the next boats: “Gearbox” is on 18-points, “Moll” 19, “Gambit” 20 and “Goddess” 21.

HKPN In HKPN-A, “Sell Side Dream” took double line honours but finished in 3rd place in both races on corrected time. “Getafix” and “DEA II” took 1st and 2nd places respectively in Race-5 while in Race-6 “Tornado” came first, “Getafix” was 2nd, “No One Else” was 3rd and “Kiasu” 4th.

“Kiasu” still leads the series on 14-points, “Scintilla” and “Getafix” are both on 16-points and “No One Else” is 4th on 22-points.

In HKPN-B – the largest division, “Red Kite” took line honours and 1st place on corrected time in both races, but having missed the first 3-races of the series she has a lot of catching up to do. “Pepper & Salt”, “Windseeker”, and “Yilong” secured the next three places in Race-5 and in Race-6 the order was “Eclipse” 2nd, “Pepper & Salt” 3rd, “Sleepy Piggy” 4th, and “Zephyr” 5th.

“Pepper & Salt” leads the series on 11-points, “Windseeker” is lying second on 12-points and “Eclipse” is in 3 rd place on 18-points.

J80 In the J80 Class, “Jive” won both races followed by “Footloose”, “Jelik VII” and “Jazz” in Race-5 and by “Footloose” and “JeNa PaBe” in Race-6. “Jive” leads in the series on 7-points with “Footloose” on 9-points and “Jazz” on 13-points.

Sportsboats “Sidewinder” won Race-5 with “Merlin” 2nd and “Stingray” 3rd. “Merlin” moved into 1st place in Race-6 with “Stingray” 2nd and “Sidewinder” 3rd. “Merlin” leads the series with 5-points, “Sidewinder” is lying second on 12-points and “Black Magic” is in 3rd place on 30-points. The real contests in this division are between “Merlin” and “Sidewinder” for 1st place with “Black Magic”, “Stingray” and “BRACE BRACE BRACE” competing for 3rd place.

Next Races This coming weekend on Saturday July 25 will be race day-4 of the 2015 UK Sailmaker Summer Saturday Series. The next race-day for the Quest Yachting Typhoon Series is the Mirs Bay Passage Race on Saturday August 1.